SPV LN nodes? about lnbook HOT 2 CLOSED

What you describe above isn't "SPV", and just abuses the term imo @renepickhardt. LN Graph verification is no where as intensive as verifying the entire blockchain. The most expensive part of it is needing to verify that the outputs still exists. Some clients will just skip this step and assume the channels still exist (and were created in the past), which is a minor DoS vector. On our end, we're working on the ability to serve SPV proofs of channel creation over the network, which alleviates some of the burden of initial verification, but doesn't prove that the channels are unspent (something like UTXO commitments are required for that).

from lnbook.

Perhaps this is a good topic for much later in the book. I think when we discuss the "gossip" function and path-finding sections in detail.

from lnbook.